Cenario
Website: ASP.Net MVC 5 managing models, controllers and views.
Api: RESTful Web api managing models, controllers and returning JSON
The problem: Code duplication in BL. We are always redoing the same logic in both places.
The approach I have in mind:
Take the BL out of the Website MVC and keep it only in Web Api in a separated VS solution
The Website now is a consumer of Web Api
About the content negotiation, I think in two options:
Web Api "knows" which format to return (ViewResult, JSON or XML) and serialize/deserialize in BL depending of who is requesting (website, mobile apps, etc.). The advantage I see is to keep taking
advantage of strongly typed model to render a view in Website
Web Api always return JSON and the consumer app handle result in client
Questions:
Is this approach a good practise?
Which is better: Web Api always returning JSON or a smart Web Api who "knows" which format to return?
Like #David said, you don't really need to consume web services in your MVC controllers. You could just design it in such a way that your MVC and API layers are just another "view" to your Business layer. So, in case you are thinking in a terms of your visual studio solution, your might have a Data layer project, a Business layer project and 2 front end projects MVC and API.
Related
I've explored the ASP.net web API framework and MVC 4. I understand the point of using web API that only return data then in client side we use javascript, ajax to handle all actions via HTTP verbs. On the other hand, MVC controller can return data and view we can handle event via [HttpPost] in controller.
I saw some people they make 2 projects in a solution: one is Web API in MVC 4 and the other is MVC 4 Internet Application. Is it a good idea? I didnt see the relation between two kind of projects. Can anyone explain me the how two project can communicate with each other, and what is the advantage and disadvantage of that way?
Note: in this solution he/she still uses Httppost to handle event and use MVC controller return view with Model binding.
Well I guess this is going to be a pragmatic conversation...
For starters, it seems like the Asp.net WebApi and Asp.net MVC are going to be aligned in Asp.Net V-Next, so there is going to be One base controller class that will return what ever datatype you wish (ActionResult, Json etc).
And from the recent years experience I think the trend is to have a WebApi that exposes data and a portal(client) that is just a JS web application with no C# code that just calls the Api from the browser and does what it needs to do.
So that way we basically save one hup to the server(the MVC server) and we can directly call the API from the browser.
However some people would still argue about load balancing, scaling, caching etc that you could have if you keep the MVC tier there but still all those things could be done in the WebApi and JS application too...
So long story short, I think if you want to move with the trend I think you should go with a RESTful API and have your client to call it from the browser directly with JavaScript...
I have an application which is built in ASP.Net WebForms and Silverlight.
There is another WCF services application which is accessed by silverlight part of my application.
Now I have to Re create the whole application in an MVC Single Page Application(SPA) and of course the WCF one because now I would need Web API for that.
An initial solution comes into mind is to add a web api project into wcf services application and start creating web methods there and call wcf methods from there if that functionality was already there.
And for webform start a new spa with mvc project from scratch and use durandal or any other spa client framework(hell of coding).
Any useful solution/advise? as I am looking for simplicity.
I searched around and found some questions but really did not helped as they are about merging with existing apps.
Note: application is a large application with a lot of functionalities
You have to decide how confident your team is with client side frameworks. Development of Single page applications may not be easy in the beginning, but you will get used to it very quickly. It's very important to give your team the right training.
In my opinion, Durandal is the simpliest, most elegant and complete framework to build enterprise level SPAs. It is important to know how knockout, requre and durandal's router and composition work. For data centric application I would use breezejs to manipulate and cache data on the client side and request it from the server side. Breeze works best with Entity Framework on the server side, but it's not necessary. If you can use Entity Framework, it will simplify your development, because it can generate metadata of your database structure for breeze. If Entity Framework is not an option, metadata can be written by hand.
I would make server side as thin as possible. Serving data from your database using web api with ORM of your choice and some cshtml pages.
Durandal Get Started is a good place to start.
Durandal Auth is a very good template for enterprise level SPA. It may not suit you completely, but you can use it as a guidance to build different modules of your application.
Breeze samples I suggest you consider using breeze. There are good courses available on pluralsight.
Knockoutjs has good training on data-binding.
I'm a complete beginner when it comes to ASP.NET but I want to learn it in order to build a web application that eventually will communicate with a cloud hosted SQL server. However, I cannot find any information that outlines the difference between ASP.NET web application and ASP.NET MVC2 web application (in visual studio 2010) so I'm not sure where to start. Can anyone give me a simple explanation/outline so I can decide on a tutorial to follow?
Thanks
ASP.NET is a web platform. It provides a layer that sits on top of IIS (the web server) which facilitates the creation of web applications and web services. ASP.NET MVC is a framework specifically for building web applications. It sits ontop of ASP.NET and uses APIs provided by ASP.NET. ASP.NET Web Forms is another framework specifically for building web applications, and the new ASP.NET Web API is a platform for building web services.
ASP.NET, at its most basic level, provides a means for you to provide general HTML markup combined with server side "controls" within the event-driven programming model that can be leveraged with VB, C#, and so on. You define the page(s) of a site, drop in the controls, and provide the programmatic plumbing to make it all work.
ASP.NET MVC is an application framework based on the Model-View-Controller architectural pattern. This is what might be considered a "canned" framework for a specific way of implementing a web site, with a page acting as the "controller" and dispatching requests to the appropriate pages in the application. The idea is to "partition" the various elements of the application, eg business rules, presentation rules, and so on.
Think of the former as the "blank slate" for implementing a site architecture you've designed more or less from the ground up. MVC provides a mechanism for designing a site around a pre-determined "pattern" of application access, if that makes sense. There's more technical detail to it than that, to be sure, but that's the nickel tour for the purposes of the question.
Good luck!
ASP.NET MVC2 web application is based on MVC pattern in order to facilitate unit test, without mocking pipeline asp.net, because it's very difficult. you don't have code on Code Behind in order to separate your code graphic and your code functional.
With MVC your application become independent from view. you can replace easily technology of creating view.
Read this article it's very interesting : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd942833.aspx
If you have VS10 make a small ASP.NET (webforms) application and a small ASP.NET MVC 2 application, and examine the differences between them. It's a great way to learn.
A very good material is available here
http://www.webdevelopmenthelp.net/2013/10/Difference-between-ASP.NET-WebForm-And-ASP.NET-MVC.html
Like ASP.Net web forms, ASP.Net MVC is development model to build web application in Microsoft .net framework. The major difference between them are ASP.net MVC is based on the MVC architecture. Where we have 3 independent tiers – Model, View Controllers which interact which each other to render HTML output.
Major differences
Web forms is mainly has an event driven model. Where we have page level events(Page_load, pre render, page_init etc) and control level events. Which is not the case for MVC. The request life cycle is comparatively complex.(why complex because, the request has to goes through all the events before rendering the HTML output )
Web forms is basically has an aspx page which contains UI controls and a code behind file. All the page level events and control level events are handled here. In MVC the View, Model , controller can exist independently (gives clear separation of concern)
The SOC makes it easier for development as we can have separate developers for View(design html) and controller (implement business logic)
Because of this tight coupling nature, web forms are not suitable for unit tests. In MVC we can write unit tests at both controller level, action method levels. Here we can mock the data to be passed to view and do assert the result from the action method for their different properties like view name, model properties, null check etc
In web forms we have state full behavior. The server controls in ASPX page uses view state to retain their state during request response cycle. Since this view states are stored as hidden controls inside the page itself, and they are sent during request and response cycle, it makes them more heavy. Absence of view state and state less nature of MVC make it more light weight. Hence they are much more faster in request lifecycle.
ASP.NET is a web platform. It provides a layer that sits on top of the web server which facilitates the creation of web applications and web services. ASP.NET is a framework specifically for building web applications. It sits of ASP.NET and uses APIs provided by ASP.NET. ASP.NET Web Forms is another framework specifically for building web applications, and the new ASP.NET Web API is a platform for building web services
ASP.NET is a 2 tier application in which no separate section for the database and MVC is a 3 tier application in which view and logic is kept separate.
In ASP.NET for each .aspx form one URL is generated, but in MVC the url's are generated based on the controller and by the router configuration.
I have been using asp.net MVC for around 1.5 years, am enjoying its capabilities, and have deployed many successful web applications, but I'm currently reading about the asp.net Web API technology. And, I find the following:
I can implement any functionality that I used to implement using MVC; using the new Web API and in a more lightweight approach.
It is easier to develop web services using the Web API comparing the asp.net MVC.
So, will the asp.net Web API take over asp.net MVC in the future, or each technology will have its own area to grow in, or should we consider using both of them in the same web application?
Besides the #jmoerdyk's answer, I would like to point something out:
The key is to understand the goal of each technology:
Web API.
This will be the new API for creating web services, this is an alternative to traditional XML services and WCF services, so it's worth pointing out first the main difference between WEB API and the rest of the Web service frameworks.
The primary difference between Web API and WCF/ASMX services is that it's not based on SOAP it's based on HTTP Therefore you can take advantage of all the HTTP features like:
It contains message headers that are very meaningful and descriptive - headers that suggest the content type of the message’s body, headers that explain how to cache information, how to secure it etc.
use of verbs to define the actions (POST, PUT, DELETE..)
it contains a body that can be used to send any kind of content
It uses URIs for identifying both information paths (resources) and actions
That was the main goal of the Web APIs, known back then as the WCF Web APIs: to stop looking at HTTP through the eyes of WCF - as just a transport protocol to pass requests. Rather, it allows us to look at it as the real application-level protocol it is – a rich, interoperable, resource-oriented protocol. The purpose of the Web APIs was to properly use URIs, HTTP headers, and body to create HTTP services for the web, and for everyone else that wished to embrace HTTP as its protocol and lifelong friend.
Take a look to this article for more information: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/341414/WCF-or-ASP-NET-Web-APIs-My-two-cents-on-the-subjec
So basically the Web API could actually be compared against WCF or XML Services
If you are wondering what's going to happen with WCF?
So the fact was we had too many options and therefore too much confusion. What were we to do? We merge teams! (Kind of reminds us of the time of LINQ-to-SQL and Entity Framework, WCF and Ado.Net Data Services and other such examples). So the WCF team and the ASP.NET team joined forces and created a new framework focused on the world of REST/Hypermedia/HTTP services for the web world and thus came out the ASP.NET Web APIs.
MVC
Now that you know what's the goal of the Web API, then it should be easier to say why MVC contains additional functionality to render views primarily.
Your concern is based on the fact that WEB API is actually based on MVC, but their goals are different
On the other hand, the ASP.NET MVC infrastructure with its elegant handling of HTTP requests and responses, and its support of easy-to-create controllers seemed like the proper way to go for creating this new type of services
No, they don't really do the same thing.
Web API is really only for generating JSON, XML or other text based responses for implementing REST based APIs. MVC can do that as well, but the new Web API appears to make it easier, particularly with the automatic content type negotiation.
What MVC does that Web API is not intended for is generating full or partial HTML pages with Views and such.
So each one has their own purpose in the ASP.Net framework and not likely to surpass the other.
WebAPI and MVC are two different things, but they both work in the same framework. WebAPI is used for restful services. MVC is used for web pages.
You can create restful services in MVC, with a lot more work than in WebAPI. The reverse is not true. You can't create Web pages in WebAPI. Therefore, your question is fundamentally confused.
They are going to be merged in new versions, technically both works similar, but API don't have views attached so delivers better performance
I have an existing Asp.Net MVC Website and I would also like to provide a Web Service from the same domain.
What is the best way to approach creating a web service in this scenerio?
Do I add to this project or...?
You should be able to add an WebService file directly to the MVC project.
Right click on solution and select add new item, then select the web category and att the bottom of the list there should be Web Service.
Just remember to check that the routes does not eat up the call to the webservice.
That way the webservice can get access to the same model classes as the MVC application.
You can add a web service to the project just as you do in regular ASP.NET web apps, however, MVC basically IS a web service. You could create a controller that handles all the requests that you want your web service to handle.
With the advent of MVC it is quite common to do applications that only ever load a view once, then use AJAX and client scripting almost the entire rest of the life of the application. Your AJAX calls just hit up action methods for their goods and then use the deliciousness that is JSON to parse the data and utilize it.
In my opinion designing a web service as a controller instead of using [WebMethods] is far simpler and a lot more fun!
First, the question is "what do we mean by web service?" This can mean anything from a MVC page that responds using XML, JSON or some other agreed upon format to full blown SOAP and WS-* encumbered nightmares.
Anyhow, perhaps the best place to start is the WCF restful services -- these play very nicely with MVC, including routing.
The cool kids are using openrasta.